ব্যঞ্জন পদাবলী

Search This Blog

Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Fries and Fritters

Basic Bengali cooking culture has now truly subsided as a spiritual
exercise or custom while celebrating special occasions with collective
interests for shabeki ranna - সাবেকি রান্না (cooking food following traditions with authenticity)

I
have sought to move beyond the notion of tradition as now a day the
tradition needs to be understood as a cultural practice connected with
the culturally diversified locality as well as modernity. Every second
door where I live in Kolkata has a family either immigrant from the same
cultural environment, recognized as ghoti - ঘটি or bangal - বাঙ্গাল
(after partition) though now mixed and matched with the identity or
sharing the neighborhood with the intercountry migrated deep-rooted
different cultural peoples of India. So availability of food also
diversified and compromised because of the market economy.

So
called Bangals (বাঙ্গাল) of West Bengal who left a riverine country now
"Bangladesh" with 800 rivers and 265 freshwater fish species, felt
themselves proud while expressing the elaborate fish concerned meals
from starter to sour with rice, today, satisfy their meals with
different, subtle items.

Fish
head fry - Macher muro bhaja

Published: 18 Dec, 2013

People
of Bengal observe a ritual of serving whole head piece of fish to their
daughters only for the ceremony of last meal before marriage (ai buro bhat)
at their parent's home and for daughter in law's welcome lunch (bou bhat) at
their in-laws home. Fish symbolizes prosperity and fertility as well as acts
as brain food. Otherwise the Bengali fish feeding principal is to show
affection and love to their men (master of the family), favorite person in
the family especially their son, respected guest or kutumb and jamai
(son-in-law). People are honored by simply placing the fish head on the
platter, and somehow tend to impress the person by Bengaliness. Ladies in
the family has to be most attentive when serving food. Fish head is held in
such high esteem that at the first rice ceremony of young children
annaprashan (there was no such ritual for girls those times), even babies
are presented with a cooked fish head, though they do not eat it, for its
auspicious nature.

There
are taboos over eating fish. The Bengali believes, like Eskimos that the
fish head adds to his grey matter and the children are given fish eyes to
eat so that their eyes may become bright and clear.

Ingredients:

Rui fish head, salt and turmeric, whole red chili

Instructions:

Wash the
fish head, discard the gill and wash again thoroughly. Sprinkle a little
salt and turmeric on the fish head and set aside. Heat sufficient oil in a
deep frying pan, add 2 to 3 whole red chillies, fry until crisp and remove
from pan. When the oil is hot, place the fish head in the pan, turn
carefully and brown on all sides, remove from pan.

FRY AND
FRITTERS

In
this section of the food items – Fries and Fritters, Bengalese usually
show interest in cooking telebhaja like pakoras rather than bhaja with
rice flour (pituli gola - পিটুলি গোলা) - every time supplemented with
besan or gram flour because of the easily availability of the besan, I
am trying to recall some old recipes as well as Portuguese-influenced
fried item like croquettes, homemade fries, which never can be as
delicious as kolkata street foods - sinfully delicious fries, fried in
repeated usage of the same oil. Besides these fries as a side dish can
be served as alternatives for evening snacks or as finger foods for a
tea party.

Prep time: 00:10
| Cook time:
00:05
|
Total time: 00:15 | Yield: 2 servingsIngredients
Ingredients:
Thankuni pata/ Centella leaves, 2 bunches about 100 g Green chilies 2 Kalo jeera (onion seeds), 1 tsp Salt to taste Oil 1 tspA pinch of sugar to balance the tasteInstructions: Take the leaves from bunches (you can use whole leaves with stigma). Wash and clean thoroughly and keep in a big bowl of lukewarm water for 5 minutes. Take out leaves from water, do not strain, use your hand and remove leaves from water carefully.Though thankuni is usually not attacked by pets and diseases of serious nature, but this a small,…

Bhut chadurdoshi and Choddo Shak - 14 Greens ritualBhut chadurdoshi and Choddo Shak - 14 Greens ritual
Green Gaga
By Barnali Dutta,
published by Prasadam: October 22, 2014Tomorrow is Kali puja. On this day the Mother, the Goddess of Strength [Shakti], the source of all, the universal principle of energy, power or creativity is worshipped and this is also known as the famous Festival of Lights - Diwali. By Diwali I remember that in the market today, alongside large displays of fire crackers, lined up wicker baskets full of green herb is to be found too. In no time I had decided and amassed with lots of health arrived there. Truely, it is a rare opportunity to have so many rare edible green vegetables available in the market in Kolkata these days.

According to our forefathers this is the time at the end of the monsoons when people should start eating herbs in Bengal. I still wonder how much have we progressed or advanced or modernized from our forefathers. Man has left behind a wonde…